Re: Introducing Semgel, a semantic database app for gathering & analyzing data from websites

On 7/19/12 2:08 PM, Harish Kumar M. wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 9:23 PM, Kingsley Idehen 
> <kidehen@openlinksw.com <mailto:kidehen@openlinksw.com>> wrote:
>
>     On 7/19/12 10:58 AM, Harish Kumar M. wrote:
>>     Thanks Kingsley!
>>
>>     Just to clarify
>>     - Our current focus is on allowing users to *consume* data.
>>     Letting users *publish* data would be part of the roadmap. For
>>     now, we want to get the average user to consume semweb data and
>>     let the professionals take care of publishing data.
>>     - Publishing would be relevant if users were modifying or
>>     creating their own data within Semgel. We do not have those
>>     capabilities now. And the crunchbase data we consume is available
>>     from sources like URI Burner.
>>     - The application allows you to search crunchbase and add
>>     specific pages to the database. It's not just about visualization
>>     - its a self contained database for the user to explore, query
>>     and visualize in a flexible way (think MS Access or MS Excel)
>>     - The product segment pages (like this one -
>>     http://bit.ly/NkNtTQ) are simply there to provide some ready-made
>>     collections of companies for users to play with. The
>>     visualization on these pages are not part of the core application.
>>
>>     Hope that answers you question. Happy to elaborate if necessary.
>>
>>     Thanks again!
>>     Harish.
>
>     That isn't really what Linked Data is about.
>     Using your MS Access and MS Excel analogies, when we talk about
>     Linked Data, it's all about:
>
>     1. Excel Cell Names (in the form of hyperlinks) that resolve to
>     data across networks
>     2. MS Access keys (in the form of hyperlinks) that resolve to data
>     across networks .
>
>     Here is an example of a Spreadsheet and RDBMS combo doing Linked
>     Data, as per  my comments above:
>
>     1. http://bit.ly/NkVEzD -- sparql describe against the 'Facebook'
>     entity URI
>     2. http://bit.ly/Qc2GXX -- sparql select scoped to a named graph
>     that holds the triples that describe the 'Facebook' entity .
>
>     Follow the links above and you get the combined effects of Excel
>     and MS Access, as per my comments above.
>
>     Linked Data is about this form of fine grained data representation
>     and access that scales to networks while also enabling the use of
>     semantics to drive disparate data source integration and/or
>     virtualization.
>
>     I would encourage you to add a Linked Data dimension to your
>     service. Nothing about Linked Data makes it incompatible with
>     functional and scalable business models. You just have to take
>     that first step :-)
>
>
>     -- 
>
>     Regards,
>
>     Kingsley Idehen	
>     Founder & CEO
>     OpenLink Software
>     Company Web:http://www.openlinksw.com
>     Personal Weblog:http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen  <http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/%7Ekidehen>
>     Twitter/Identi.ca handle: @kidehen
>     Google+ Profile:https://plus.google.com/112399767740508618350/about
>     LinkedIn Profile:http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen
>
>
>
>
> I completely understand and appreciate your desire (which I share) to 
> see a mature landscape with a range of linked data sources. I can also 
> understand how a database or spreadsheet can potentially offer 
> fine-grained data access - your examples do illustrate the point very 
> well indeed!
>
> However, if we want to build a sustainable business, the decision to 
> build these features needs to be *demand driven.*

I disagree.

Note, I responded because I assumed this was a new Linked Data service. 
But it clearly isn't. Thus, I don't want to open up a debate about 
Linked Data virtues if you incorrectly assume they should be *demand 
driven*.

Remember, this is the Linked Open Data (LOD) forum. We've long past the 
issue of *demand driven* over here, re. Linked Data.

>
> As I see it,
> - We need to have a bunch of linked-data sources from the data 
> originators(governments, enterprises, repositories like CB etc.) There 
> need to be *users who are hungry *to consume this data in all its 
> linked-data richness
> - We than need to build apps that can meet this demand and help 
> consumers benefit from all this linked-data. This is what Semgel is 
> trying to do.
> - We could than, if the demands exists, make the above applications 
> become components in a pipeline and support other downstream apps.
>
> But as things stand, we are just getting started with stages 1 and 2. 
> The current landscape has clearly not matured enough to justify stage 
> 3. I strongly believe that our focus should be on stage 1 and creating 
> a hunger for the linked-data in the first place.

See my comments above. I also encourage you to browse through some of 
the older threads here and elsewhere re. Linked Data.
>
> Harish.
>
>
>
>
>


-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Personal Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca handle: @kidehen
Google+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/112399767740508618350/about
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen